Porsche and BMW don't use dual wishbone suspension in the front like many cheap cars. The weak oem springs and shocks and soft sway bars are the only thin stopping any lightweight econo car from handling like a 70k dollar car. Porsche and BMW have both campaigned to be allowed to ditch their McPherson struts in favor of the wishbones. Ferrari gets that. German cars are pretty body first how do we fit the useful bits inside that package? In the 1970s and 80s Porsche and bmw made awesome lightweight sports cars. Now they both make fast luxury cars that are nicer to be in than my living room. I dig it, but 3600 pounds will never change directions like 2400 pounds will.
Ford put piddly little power steering pumps on '06 and early '07 panthers. You'll run out of assist during aggressive low-speed maneuvers and the steering will stiffen up. Makes it a lot worse if you're on the brakes hard at the time, too. Both of my cars have the undersized pump. It's irritating, but not irritating enough to do anything about. Just gotta muscle it around a little bit. Also, I'm selling the '06 because the '07 is junkier and more fun.
Yesterday I went to drive to work, and while I was backing out of my very sloped driveway, I tried to turn the wheel and brake, but the power steering and power brakes did not engage. I had rolled into the street by time I realized this. I was thinking, crap, what's wrong. Only then did I realize that I had failed to turn the key all the way to start the engine. I had somehow mistaken the startup of the hot air blower as the engine. *clap* *clap* *clap*
Had similar recently, heard a sudden horrid violent squeal and was concerned my engine was about to grenade itself. Pulled over immediately, got out of the car with it still running, only to notice I was by construction and the noise, wasnt the car, it was some kinda concrete boring machine.
In my defence, I am both a) wondering when my engine will grenade, b) have poor hearing, c) was quite enjoying metallica on the stereo
Ah yeah I know them. I got a tuned MK4 Golf GTI --- Post updated --- Well, it's not strictly MINE, but you know what I mean.
I'm keeping it until either a) the MOT runs out or b) it dies on me, whichever happens first. Then I shall evaluate my options in replacing it.
a) to me its ugly b) its impractical c) its expensive d) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. e) its ugly f) its impractical g) its expensive h) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. i) to me its ugly j) its impractical k) its expensive l) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. m) its ugly n) its impractical o) its expensive p) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. q) to me its ugly r) its impractical s) its expensive t) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. u) its ugly v) its impractical w) its expensive x) its an automatic transmission which is something invented for people who hate cars. y) its for hipsters z) I fucking hate hipsters
You're one of the very few members here I actually hold respect for, but my god you sprout some hilarious shit sometimes. Tuning a car is about finding and improving a car's weak points. You'll find the limit of an econobox chassis very quickly, because you're forcing it to perform well outside its design intention, negating all that money you dropped on coilovers, strut bars, anti-roll bars, and other goodies. Stupid to install performance suspension bits on a chassis that has the rigidity of a wet paper bag without also stiffening it to take advantage of the better parts. Driving dynamics would be shithouse otherwise. Doing this would be akin to bolting a turbo to a motor without upgrading fuel, intake, ignition, exhaust, and engine management systems. Sure, if it doesn't explode there will be an appreciable difference, but it's a pointless exercise because it will never come remotely close to using that choo-choo to its potential. Won't last long either. Anecdote: my driveway meets the road at an angle, in both senses of the term -not perpendicularly, and at a decline, so coming down, a torque is applied to the car as the front left wheel meets the incline of the road, while the front right and rear left are down in the trough between the driveway and road. The rear right is of course up on the driveway. Taking my ladyfriend's Jazz/Fit down, I hear lots of creaking and groaning as the entire chassis flexes under the stress. This is a car on coilovers on all four corners, strut braces front and rear, and either stock or Progress anti-roll bars. Can't remember. Contrast this to the GTR or 911s which have more suspension travel; these three barely make noise, and lift their goddamn wheels. tl;dr shitbox on coilovers != 70k sportscar
Particularly when coilovers typically means a 2-3" drop or more for most owners. Which takes the car so low that its suspension loses any bump steer characteristics it had along with gaining unacceptably bad amounts of camber which can do nothing but degrade performance. The mk1 focus. A car with a reputation for handling extremely well *in class*. Has notable handling *loss* from a 2" drop. Mostly because its a suspension design that aims to replicate fancy BMW/porsche/whomever multilink rear ends, but isnt adjustable, it does have deliberately engineered toe change throughout the suspension range aswell as camber change in order to maximise the tyres contact patch during cornering and also to aid in steering the rear end through a corner a bit. Drop it an inch, and boom, the camber changes as if the body is rolling quite badly, when its on flat ground along with it having incorrect toe, when it then rolls, boom, its camber and toe are even further out. Lowering a focus is known to leave its rear end looser than a gay prostitute after he's been hired by an entire football team of black men. Thats not to say it cant benefit from coils, because it can. But generally improving econobox suspension isnt lowering it, its stiffening it and adding an anti rollbar. The civic, mini and golf also all fall into this reputation. Stiffen them, dont lower them. Yes some claim lower centre of gravity from lowering, this is true, but the camber change reduces the grip that much to more than offset this change. The golf, mini and post 2011 civics are actually true multilink rear ends though so theres at least theoretical room to add adjustable parts in there (though stock ones are not adjustable). Most other civics are dual wishbone rears and dont suffer from the toe issue as much, but do suffer from camber change badly still, I think theres adjustment parts available.
I've seen and driven enough of these hi end cars to know that when it really counts all that fluff and luxury ruins the car. It's the ultimate fuck you to the establishment as well when you set a car up right that wasn't supposed to be driven fast. Today's cars lost focus if you ask me. Give me an mr2 and 10k to build it and I'll cook anything that costs less than 200k. The japs had it right all along.
We are arguing weather or not a light weight car designed for daily commuting can be set up to handle as well as a BMW m3 or a 911 non gt3. The answer is absolutely. The ultimate driving machine should not weigh over 3k pounds but I'm a simpleton who prefers a stiff ride and no creature comforts. Leather? Air conditioning? A sport button? I took a ride in a stock frs minus springs and shocks my old bosses son owned out on lime rock park. Passing 996 turbos and stis like they are standing still everywhere but the straight. The price tag is bullshit, the status is bullshit, the snobby culture is bullshit, and the rest isn't worth mentioning. Save your money and buy a miata, an mr2, an s2k or any b swapped eg hatch and have a blast. Or spend 70k on a luxury car.
